


but you're not here

by lumalaya



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Normal High School, Athletes, High School, Journalism, Kim Mingyu is Whipped, M/M, Photographer Xu Ming Hao | The8, Responsibility, Soft Xu Ming Hao | The8, Students
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-19
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-06-29 19:03:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15735507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lumalaya/pseuds/lumalaya
Summary: In which things are getting out of Minghao’s hands; but all Mingyu’s wanted was to hold them.





	1. Introduction

Summer has swiftly melted away, memories of late mornings spent sleeping in and afternoons at museums all but memories now in Minghao’s mind. His late nights with paint on his hands will soon morph into ink on his fingers for days on end, his water well a strong cup of coffee designated not to cleanse, but to awaken.

The thought surprisingly doesn’t make him sad; not even a bit. If anything, the images flashing in his head - only for him to see as he walks to school, a premiere viewing his peers on the street are unaware of - make him smile, giving him a warm feeling in his chest that makes him hopeful for the day. He’s early (as always), and the sun is high enough to bathe him in comfortable warmth, but not too high to irritate him.

What with this being his third year of high school, things are almost automatic; the number of steps to the main building, the friends grouped together in their territorial spots, the occasional couple all too excited to see each other again after the break. Minghao is set into autopilot, not even thinking of the turns he takes to reach his locker.

“Hey.” an overly familiar voice carries into his ears amidst all the students in the hallways. One word - one word for Minghao to recognize _anywhere_. He closes his locker door to reveal a face he is perfectly happy to see.

“Hey, you.” he smiles an easy smile. With Mingyu, anything is easy.

Mingyu’s grin reaches his eyes and anyone passing by can easily think he’s actually _happy_ to be back. But only Minghao can recognize the sleepiness behind his sunshine eyes, the yawn threatening to escape from his outstretched pink lips.

“I’ve missed you.” Mingyu says, only looking at him.

Minghao laughs lightly. “We saw each other two weeks ago. What is there to miss?”

“Everything.” he replies without missing a beat. “There is _everything_ to miss.”

Almost instantaneously, Minghao’s cheeks warm with red, Mingyu’s words more effective than the rays of the sun and the walk to school. But he doesn’t stop there.

“How can I not miss you? I miss you even when we’re apart.”

“Fine, fine, I get your point.” Minghao tries to cut him off before he says anything that could make him even more flustered. In an attempt to return the favor, he reaches out to Mingyu’s hand resting by his side, and slowly, delicately, laces their fingers together.

It’s automatic. He does not have to relearn where exactly he fits in between Mingyu’s fingers, but he enjoys it all the same, knowing where they meet at the edges and touch skin with skin.

Mingyu smiles.

And the first bell of junior year rings.


	2. First Days

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mingyu helps Hao start his year off right.

“So, tell me, what’s your schedule again?”

Minghao looks up from his planner to see his favorite person in the world (after maybe his mom) joining him for lunch. He’s spent the first four periods listening to boring course descriptions, gauging whether or not he got lucky with his teachers, joking with whomever he knew in his class, and listing down homework ( _ on the first day! _ ). 

Now, he can breathe, sitting in their usual spot by the garden just outside of the humanities building. Minghao wonders why it feels a little too empty, and he realizes that all of their friends are elsewhere. Wonwoo won’t be getting back from his film program until tomorrow, Seokmin is still God knows where in Europe for his choir competition, and Jeonghan, the oldest in the group, had said fuck all and decided to miss the first day of his last year to sleep in a little longer. Typical.

With the absence of what happens to be all of their friends, it seems to be only Minghao and Mingyu for today. 

And he’s perfectly fine with that.

“I keep forgetting all the shit you actually have to do.” Mingyu says, sitting down across him. “All I know is you have a bunch of meetings, like, every day, and that’s it.” 

It’s already noon, yet the poor boy still looks like he’s just woken up. His hair is messy in the stereotypical boyish way, with parts down his forehead and others sticking up like lost antennae. It’s messy in a way that makes Minghao want to reach out and fix it, but he knows better than to do so, and continues writing down tasks for the week in his planner.

“I already told you,” he starts, smiling, “I have journ on Mondays, art club on Wednesdays, photography club on Thursdays, and dance on Fridays.”

Mingyu scrunches his nose, and Minghao chuckles. 

“Why do you have dance on Fridays?” he asks. “Don’t people have places to go? It’s  _ Friday. _ Why end a tiring week by tiring yourselves out even more?”

“I disagree.” Minghao responds, stealing one of Mingyu’s fries. He doesn’t even notice. “I mean, that’s exactly the point. Why not end the week by doing something we love? And it’s fun. Is it so hard to believe that the dance room is the place we have to go on Fridays?”

“Okay, fine, you have a point.” Mingyu concedes, running a hand through his hair, an action that successfully catches Minghao’s attention.

It’s smooth, natural, and there’s something about the simple act that makes Minghao stare and take in all of it; how the wind brushes past Mingyu’s hair, flowing in between his fingertips in  _ one, two, three _ motions and  _ one more _ , because that’s how messy his hair is. Minghao takes in a breath, only because he believes he completely has to, or else his lungs will forget how to function because of the sight. 

_ I’m so lucky. _

It’s a random thought, one that doesn’t leave as quickly as it enters his mind. But he knows it’s true. There’s no way to dance around such a thing when it’s a fact. 

“I missed you.” he says out of the blue.

Mingyu is taken aback by surprise at first, but his face then slowly breaks into a grin. Fixating his eyes on Minghao, he retorts in a playful tone, “We saw each other two weeks ago. What is there to miss?”

Minghao is hit by the exact words he’d said earlier, and he isn’t even mad. If anything, it makes him even giddier.

“Everything.” he says, completely taking in how the wind messes up Mingyu’s already messy hair even more; how the sun high up in the sky creates a stark contrast between the shadows of the leaves and Mingyu’s skin; how school may not be so bad after all if he gets to see his favorite person every day again. “There is everything to miss.”

They smile at each other for a few moments before Minghao goes back to his planner, his heart light. As he continues adding to what seems like an endless list of things to do, Mingyu’s curiosity takes over him.

“Okay, come on, show me what you’ve been writing in your planner this whole time.”

Minghao looks up and sees an expectant, almost scolding look on Mingyu’s face. 

“Okay, wait.” He finishes the phrase he had been writing before sliding the notebook across the table. Mingyu inspects the scribbles and dates closely, and looks up at him, a mixture of confusion and surprise on his face.

“We’re only halfway through the first day of school, and you already have this much to do?”

Minghao chuckles, taking back his planner and closing it. When he sees that Mingyu is still waiting for an answer, his mouth agape with question, he answers nonchalantly.

“I’ll get used to it. I brought this upon myself, after all.”

“I’m just concerned,” Mingyu says, and Minghao can hear sincerity in his voice that makes his heart melt. “I don’t want you to be overloading yourself and taking on more work than you can handle.”

“ _ I’m fine _ ,” Minghao stresses, “I can handle it. And that’s rich coming from the guy with three sports.” 

“Yeah, well, game seasons exist, Minghao. But you’re stuck with all of this,” he motions with his hand to the closed planner, “for an entire year.”

“I’ve got this under control.” Minghao says with finality in his tone. “Don’t worry about me, okay?”

Mingyu pouts, and Minghao can’t help but smile, because although Mingyu’s so worried about him, it is the cutest thing he’s ever seen. This time, he doesn’t stop himself and leans over the table to mess with Mingyu’s hair instead of fixing it.

“Hey,” he says gently, and this causes Mingyu to stop pouting. The boy then looks at him with wide eyes, holding onto the next thing he’s about to say. 

“I love you.”

And Mingyu slowly,  _ slowly _ smiles. Gentle, full. 

“God, no matter how stubborn you are, I love you too.”

Minghao’s hand rests on Mingyu’s head, and gently moves down to rest on his cheek. The two boys stay like that, looking at each other, with their hearts full and faces bright. 

Maybe, just maybe, they’ll be able to survive the school year, as long as they have each other.

 

 

Minghao’s first meeting of the school year comes in the form of journ, wherein he plays the small yet very significant role of the fashion advice columnist of the school paper. In actuality, he only takes up half a page out of the sixteen they produce each month, but he believes in quality over quantity, because if anything, the school paper wouldn’t be the school paper without his column. Each month, he gets to talk about a trend or particular item of clothing (in a good way, their adviser asks of him), and he also gets to answer a question or two from their readers. 

As he makes his way down the hallways to the staff room, he goes over his concept for this month’s column once again in his head.

_ Easy, Breezy, Cool: summer styles that made waves. _ It is one thing to dress comfortably in the blazing heat; it is another to carefully pick out styles that suit you while making you look  _ and _ feel effortlessly cool. Just by pairing certain clothes from your closet, you can make a simple walk to the ice cream store feel like a fashion magazine photoshoot by the beach.

As Minghao walks down the staircase step by step, he realizes how cheesy his job actually sounds. It’s even a wonder how or why their adviser approved of the position at all, but he at least knows that he isn’t ashamed of it, because in all honesty, he loves it. Writing what he knows about fashion so he can hopefully help some other teenagers out there who want to explore their own styles? Now,  _ that _ , is fulfilling. 

When he enters the staff room, the team greets him either with bored faces or kind smiles – there’s really no in between. He takes his seat, and a few of the editors already start asking how his summer went and comparing their sets of teachers. 

Hansol, the new layout editor, walks into the room twenty minutes after the meeting starts. Everyone goes silent as they stare at him obliviously typing on his phone, and Minghao holds back a laugh. After several moments, their editor-in-chief speaks up.

“Um, hello? Earth to phone boy?”

He looks up, and quickly notices everyone’s eyes on him. Jihoon, the editor-in-chief, sighs.

“Sorry, what’s your name again?”

“Oh, hi! I’m Hansol,” The boy gulps, and all of a sudden, Minghao is taken all the way back to a year ago, when he himself had been new to the team.

“And what’s your position?” 

“Layout editor!” Hansol confidently smiles, obviously proud of himself, but the confused look on Jihoon’s face only remains, and they carry on with the meeting.

The next hour passes by easily, and as Minghao sits back in his chair, taking in once again the smell of aged paper and old ink, he thinks to himself that it’s good to be back. He feels a little reminiscent as he looks around the familiar white walls, knowing that his summer has truly come to an end. It was only this morning that he’d said goodbye to sleeping in until noon on weekdays, but now, the innocent youthful freedom of the past two months has really started to slip from his fingers, and he can only smile.

It’s fine. He’s sad to have to let go of having weightless shoulders and what seemed like all the time in the world, but he accepts it. He accepts it, because he cannot ignore the warm feeling in his chest, bubbling with excitement for the year to come. His fingers are tingling with the desire to sit down and get to work, whether it be on his computer, or his planner, or his camera, or his paintbrush. There is a joy in how he looks forward to all the people he will get to work with and all the projects he will be able to accomplish this school year.

Minghao’s back, and how glad he is to be.

 

 

When he leaves school, he makes sure to message the photography club group chat about their meeting on Wednesday, so he doesn’t forget later tonight. Right after he sends the message, he receives a text notification from none other than Mingyu.

_ hey is ur meeting done _

A small smile forms on his face as he types a reply.

_ yeah, why? i just left school _

Soon after he sends it, a text bubble appears on his screen, and he continues down the sidewalk while waiting. Seconds later, a new message shows up.

_ meet me at the park pls <3 _

Minghao sighs, but smiles nonetheless at the unexpected invitation. Without hesitation, he continues straight ahead instead of taking a left, and soon enough, his feet take him to one of his favorite meetup places with Mingyu. 

It’s not that late yet, and the sun shines behind the trees, casting a golden glow on everything it chances upon. Everything looks a lot more alive, and Minghao takes in a deep breath when the wind blows in his direction, causing several leaves to fall off in his path. 

He easily spots Mingyu, the tall boy sitting comfortably in the grass with his legs stretched, eye closed, and arms on the ground behind him. When he approaches, Mingyu opens his eyes and smiles wide, his teeth showing and eyes looking much brighter under the afternoon sun.

“Why’d you want to see me here?” Minghao asks, sitting cross-legged on the ground across Mingyu. 

“When  _ don’t _ I want to see you?” Mingyu answers as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

Minghao rolls his eyes. “I swear, what is up with you? You’re so cheesy today. It almost makes me want to barf.”

“But you love it.”

“Not the point!”

Mingyu laughs, leaning forward and running a hand through his hair just like earlier at lunch, and Minghao has to take in a breath, because if he doesn’t at that moment, he will forget and only continue to stare at the beautiful boy in front of him. When the air enters his lungs and he’s reassured that he’s still breathing, he smiles softly at Mingyu, and looks around the park.

“There aren’t as many people here today.” he notices.

“It’s a Monday.”

“Yeah, but it’s around five in the afternoon, which is the perfect time to take a stroll in the park.”

“Then maybe we’re just lucky.”

“Maybe.”

But Minghao knows it’s not just a simple maybe. He is a hundred percent certain that in that moment, in all of their moments together and apart, they  _ are _ lucky, no questions asked. He feels exactly the same way he had earlier, the same way he does every time he gets to just look at Mingyu and feel the butterflies swirling in his chest, reminding him that this boy is the one that owns his heart. 

It’s unbelievably cheesy how he still feels the same way after a year, maybe even more, but he’s grateful. He’s absolutely grateful that he doesn’t have to face junior year alone, because he knows that Mingyu will be there when he needs him. It’s the most reassuring feeling in the world, and at that moment, Minghao feels a little brave. He feels whole.

When they leave, they walk hand-in-hand because it is the easiest thing in the world, and Mingyu walks Minghao up to his doorstep before saying a sweet goodbye.

Whipped. 

Minghao is absolutely whipped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow, an update! i've had this draft stored away since august, and i only got to read it again and edit a few days ago. hope you guys like it!

**Author's Note:**

> hello! no guaranteed updates, i'm just writing when i can and i wanted to post this because i'm quite excited. i tried not to add too many tags yet to avoid spoilers :>
> 
> i'm @yellowkims on twt if u wanna be friends :D


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